Monday, March 15, 2010

Rankings of Economics Departments

As an applicant for graduate programs, there are many constraints that he/she needs to put in when choosing a place to apply. It could be attrition rate, funds, social activities (since 4 or 5 years of graduate life is quite long) - just a few - other than the reputation of the economics department. However, on top of that the quality of the economics department would certainly have a heavy weight. There are a number of ranking systems of economics departments. None is perfect, and here is a list of some rankings for your reference.

IDEAS (IDEAS also offers rankings based on economics branches, countries and individuals)

US News and World Report

Ranking by Tilburg University

Friday, March 5, 2010

Lectures of Macroeconomics

To learn what leading economics departments teach their students macroeconomics at the graduate level, here is a list.

MIT
Macroeconomic Theory I
Macroeconomic Theory II
Macroeconomic Theory III(2002)
, (2006)
Macroeconomic Theory IV
Advanced Macroeconomics(2004), 2007
Development Economics: Macroeconomics

UC Berkeley

Macroeconomic Theory, M. Obstfeld (2009)

Macroeconomic Finance, A. G. Szeidl (2009)

Macroeconomic Theory, Y. Gorodnichenko and D. Romer (2008)

Macroeconomic Theory, G. Akerlof (2007)

Macroeconomic Theory, C. Jones & D. Romer (2007)

Macroeconomics Seminar, D. Romer (2007)

Macroeconomics Workshop, C. Jones (2007)


Northwestern University

Graduate Macroeconomics, Lawrence Christiano

Advanced Graduate Macroeconomic, Lawrence Christiano

International Finance, Lawrence Christiano


Columbia University

International Finance & Monetary Theory, Richard H. Clarida

International Monetary Transactions, Richard H. Clarida


New York University

Intermediate Macroeconomics – Timothy Cogley

Incorporating Financial Factors within Macroeconomic Modelling and Policy Analysis – Mark Gertler



Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Books for Economists

According to an informal survey of Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University, from its economics and finance faculty, the books in the below list are "insightful and readable" for economists.

Authors

Title

Recommender(s)

Press

Year of Publication

Gary Becker Human Capital Prof. Gaynor University of Chicago Press

1993

Diane Coyle The Soulful Science: What Economists Really Do and Why it Matters Prof. Goldburg Princeton University Press

2007

Avinash Dixit and Barry Nalebuff Thinking Strategically: The Competitive Edge in Business, Politics, and Everyday Life Prof. Spatt W.W. Norton & Co.

1991

Darrel Duffie Dynamic Asset Pricing Theory Prof. Seppi Princeton University Press

2001

William Easterly The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics Prof. McCallum M.I.T. Press

2002

David D. Friedman Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life Prof. Goodfriend HarperCollins

1996

Milton Friedman Capitalism and Freedom Profs. Ferreyra, Goldburg, Goodfriend, and McCallum The University of Chicago Press

1962

Victor Fuchs Who Should Live? Prof. Gaynor World Scientific Publishing Co.

1998

John Kenneth Galbraith The Affluent Society Profs. Goldburg and Keech Houghton Mifflin

1998 (40th Anniversary Edition)

Friedrich A. Hayek Road to Serfdom Prof. Keech The University of Chicago Press

1994 (Fiftieth Anniversary Edition)

Robert Heilbroner The Worldly Philosophers: The Lives, Times And Ideas Of The Great Economic Thinkers Prof. Goldburg Touchstone Press

1995 (7th Edition)

Albert O. Hirschman Exit, Voice and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States Prof. Keech Harvard University Press

1970

John Maynard Keynes General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money Prof. Ferreyra Prometheus Books

1936

Lawrence Kotlikoff and Scott Burns The Coming Generational Storm Prof. Spatt M.I.T. Press

2004

Steven Landsburg Armchair Economist: Economics and Everyday Experience Profs. Routledge and Goodfriend Simon & Schuster

1993

Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner Freakanomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything Profs. Goldburg and Spatt HarperCollins

2005

Burton Malkiel A Random Walk Down Wall Street Profs. Routledge and Spatt W.W. Norton & Co.

2003 (8th Edition)

Joel Mokyr The Lever of Riches: Technological Creativity and Economic Progress Prof. Goodfriend Oxford University Press

1998

Douglass C. North and Robert Paul Thomas The Rise of the Western World: A New Economic History Prof. Goodfriend Cambridge University Press

1973

Mancur Olsen The Logic of Collective Action: Public Good and the Theory of Groups Prof. Keech Harvard University Press

1971 (2nd Edition)

Sherwin Rosen Markets and Diversity Prof. Spatt Harvard University Press

2004

Thomas Schelling Micromotives and Macrobehavior Prof. Spatt W.W. Norton & Co.

1978

Thomas Schelling Strategy of Conflict Prof. Keech Harvard University Press

1960

Robert Schiller Irrational Exuberance Prof. Fong Random House

2000 (2nd Edition)

Joseph A. Schumpeter Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy Prof. Goldburg HarperCollins

1950 (3rd Edition)

Amartya Sen Collective Choice and Social Welfare Prof. Keech North Holland Press

1970

Adam Smith An Inquiry into the Nature and the Causes of the Wealth of Nations Prof. Goldburg Liberty Fund

1776 (1981 Edition)

Richard H. Thaler The Winner's Curse: Paradoxes and Anomalies of Economic Life Prof. Weber Princeton University Press

1992

David Warsh Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations: A Story of Economic Discovery Prof. Keech W.W. Norton & Co.

2006


Source: Well-Read Economist-Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon

Writing and Publishing

How-to-write guide:

Strunk and White, "The Element of Style"
William Zinsser, "On Writing Well"
Donald McCloskey, "The Rhetoric of Economics"

How-to-publish guide:

Kwan Choi (Iowa State), "How To Publish In Top Journals"

John Creedy (Melbourne), "From Manuscript to Publication: A Brief Guide for Economists"
Daniel Hamermesh (Texas), "The Young Economist's Guide to Professional Etiquette"

Carsten Sorensen (LSE), "This Is Not An Article"

Lecture Notes

Most of the links here are copied from the econphd.net site, which was maintained by Christian Roessler. The site is currently down, hence this page is created to reserve part of its useful sources for academic purposes. Please respect the rights of these authors to their works and do not publish the downloaded files without permissions.

Microeconomics

Consumers, firms, and general equilibrium:
Arne Hallam (Iowa State), Microeconomics
Nolan Miller (Harvard), Lecture Notes on Microeconomic Theory
Robert Nau (Duke), Seminar in Choice Theory
Sten Nyberg (SSE), Advanced Microeconomics
Ariel Rubinstein (Tel Aviv), Lecture Notes in Microeconomic Theory: The Economic Agent
Max Stinchcombe (Texas), Single-Person and Multi-Person Decision Theory
Guoqiang Tian (Texas A&M), Microeconomic Theory
Nicholas Yannelis (Illinois), Lecture Notes in General Equilibrium Theory

Game theory and mechanism design:
Wayne Bialas (SUNY Buffalo), Game Theory
Bernard Caillaud (ENPC) / Benjamin Hermalin (Berkeley), Hidden Action and Incentives
Bernard Caillaud (ENPC) / Benjamin Hermalin (Berkeley), Hidden-Information Agency
Yongmin Chen (Colorado), Microeconomic Theory II
Peter Cramton (Maryland), Advanced Microeconomics
Christian Ewald (St Andrews), Games, Fixed Points and Mathematical Economics
Douglas Gale (NYU), Strategic Foundations of General Equilibrium
Benjamin Hermalin (Berkeley), Lecture Notes for Economics
Paul Klemperer (Oxford), Auctions: Theory and Practice

Levent Koçkesen (Columbia), Advanced Microeconomic Analysis I
Martin Osborne (Toronto) / Ariel Rubinstein (Tel Aviv), Bargaining and Markets
Jim Ratliff (prev. Arizona), Graduate-Level Course in Game Theory
Francesco Squintani (UCL), Notes for Non-Cooperative Game Theory
Max Stinchcombe (Texas), Dynamics and Learning
Max Stinchcombe (Texas), Notes for a Course in Game Theory

International trade:
Pol Antras (Harvard), Advanced Topics in International Trade
Donald Davis (Columbia), Notes on Competitive Trade Theory
István Kónya (Boston College), Lecture Notes in International Trade
Edward Leamer (UCLA), Sources of International Comparative Advantage
James Markusen et al. (Colorado), International Trade: Theory and Evidence

Applied and computational micro / other topics in micro:
Daron Acemoglu (MIT), Lecture Notes in Graduate Labor Economics
Ted Bergstrom (UC Santa Barbara), The Theory of Public Goods and Externalities
Christopher Carroll (JHU), Solution Methods for Microeconomic Dynamic Stochastic Optimization Problems
Alan Duncan (Nottingham), Labour Economics I & II
Bryan Ellickson (UCLA), General Equilibrium and Finance
Ariel Rubinstein (Tel Aviv), Economics and Language
Ariel Rubinstein (Tel Aviv), Modelling Bounded Rationality
David Zilberman (Berkeley), Economics & Policy of Production, Technology and Risk in Agricultural & Natural Resources

Mathematics

Mathematics for economists:
Julio Dávila (Penn), Mathematics for Economic Theory
Arne Hallam (Iowa State), Quantitative Methods in Economic Analysis
John Hillas / Dmitriy Kvasov (Auckland), Foundations of Economic Analysis

Michael Manove (Boston U), Mathematics for Micro
Markus Möbius (Harvard), Mathematics for Economists
Efe Ok (NYU), Real Analysis & Probability Theory with Economic Applications

Martin Osborne (Toronto), Mathematical Methods for Economic Theory
Guoqiang Tian (Texas A&M), Mathematical Economics
Viatcheslav Vinogradov (Charles U), A Cook-Book of Mathematics

Optimization:
Steve Alpern (LSE), Optimization Theory
Stephen Boyd (Stanford) / Lieven Vandenberghe (UCLA), Convex Optimization
Michael Burger (UCLA), Infinite-Dimensional Optimization and Optimal Design
Jan van den Heuvel (LSE) / Graham Brightwell (LSE), Optimization Theory

Robert Vanderbei (Princeton), Linear Programming: Foundations and Extensions
Pravin Varaiya (Berkeley), Lecture Notes on Optimization
Klaus Wälde (U Würzburg), Applied Intertemporal Optimization
Richard Woodward (Texas A&M), Dynamic Optimization

Linear algebra / calculus / differential equations:
Alan Bain (prev. Cambridge), Stochastic Calculus
Michael Berry (Tennessee) et al., Templates for the Solution of Linear Systems

George Cain (Georgia Tech) / James Herod (Georgia Tech), Multivariable Calculus
William Chen (Macquarie), First-Year Calculus
William Chen (Macquarie), Linear Algebra
Ian Craw (Aberdeen), Advanced Calculus and Analysis
Lawrence Evans (Berkeley), An Introduction to Stochastic Differential Equations
John Friedlander / Peter Rosenthal (Toronto), Calculus Lecture Notes
Jonathan Goodman (NYU), Stochastic Calculus
Jim Hefferon (St. Michael's College), Linear Algebra
Robert Kohn (NYU), Partial Differential Equations for Finance
Thomas Kurtz (Wisconsin), Lectures in Stochastic Analysis
Lee Lady (Hawaii), Topics in Calculus
Keith Matthews (Queensland), Elementary Linear Algebra
Kaare Petersen / Michael Petersen (Technical U Denmark), The Matrix Cookbook
Dinakar Ramakrishnan (Caltech), Calculus, Number Theory & Vector Calculus
Klaus Schmitt (Utah), Nonlinear Analysis and Differential Equations
Ruslan Shapirov (Bashkir State U, Russia), Course of Linear Algebra and Multidimensional Geometry
Dan Sloughter (Furman), Difference to Differential Equations
Dan Sloughter (Furman), The Calculus of Functions of Several Variables
Gerald Teschl (Vienna), Ordinary Differential Equations and Dynamical Systems
Sergei Treil (Brown), Linear Algebra Done Wrong

Analysis / measure theory / topology:
Robert Anderson (Berkeley), Measure Theory
Douglas Arnold (Penn State), Complex Analysis
Douglas Arnold (Penn State), Functional Analysis
George Cain (Georgia Tech), Complex Analysis
William Chen (Macquarie), Fundamentals of Analysis
William Chen (Macquarie), Introduction to Complex Analysis
William Chen (Macquarie), Introduction to Lebesgue Integration
William Chen (Macquarie), Linear Functional Analysis
William Chen (Macquarie), Multivariable and Vector Analysis
Paul Garrett (Minnesota), Functional Analysis
Lee Larson (Louisville), Real Analysis Lecture Notes
Vitali Liskevich (Bristol), Measure Theory and Functional Analysis
Aisling McCluskey (York, Ca.) / Brian McMaster (York, Ca.), Topology Course Notes
Sidney Morris (Ballarat), Topology without Tears

Sylvia Serfaty (NYU), Functional Analysis Notes
Bert Wachsmuth (Seton Hall), Interactive Real Analysis
Elias Zakon (Windsor), Mathematical Analysis I

Mathematical game theory and logic, other math:
Stefan Bilaniuk (Trent), A Problem Course in Mathematical Logic
William Chen (Macquarie), Discrete Mathematics
William Chen (Macquarie), Congruences, Polynomials, and Group Theory
George Collins, II (Case Western), Fundamental Numerical Methods and Data Analysis
Germund Dahlquist (prev. RIT Sweden) / Ake Bjork (Linkoping), Numerical Mathematics in Scientific Computation

Thomas Ferguson (UCLA), Game Theory
Steven Pav (UCSD), Numerical Methods Course Notes
Stephen Simpson (Penn State), Mathematical Logic
Steven Sugden (Bond U, Australia), Discrete Mathematics

Michal Walicki (Bergen), Introduction to Logic

Reference:
Alexandre Stevanov's Listing of Math Lecture Notes
Eric Weissenstein's Mathworld
Wikipedia

Macroeconomics

Various models:
Willem Buiter (Cambridge), Lectures on Really Useful Ad Hoc Macroeconomics

John Driscoll (Fed), Lecture Notes in Macroeconomics
Brian Krauth (Simon Fraser), Macroeconomic Theory

Roland Meeks (Oxford), Economic Growth
Gregor Smith (Queen's), Macroeconomics Lecture Notes
Paul Söderlind (St Gallen), Macro II
Stephen Williamson (WUSTL), Notes on Macroeconomic Theory

Recursive (dynamic programming) treatments and dynamic methods:
Chris Edmond (NYU), Advanced Macroeconomic Techniques
Jeremy Greenwood (Rochester), Lecture Notes on Dynamic Competitive Analysis
Nezih Guner (Penn State), Advanced Macroeconomic Theory
Lars-Peter Hansen (Chicago) / Thomas Sargent (NYU), Recursive Models of Dynamic Linear Economies
Lars-Peter Hansen (Chicago) / Thomas Sargent (NYU), Robustness

John Hassler (Stockholm U), Math II (Dynamic Systems)
Christopher House (Michigan), Macroeconomics II
David Kendrick (Texas), Stochastic Control for Economic Models

Miles Kimball (Michigan), Advanced Mathematical Methods for Macroeconomics .doc
Ian King (Auckland), A Simple Introduction to Dynamic Programming in Macroeconomic Models
Paul Klein (Western Ontario), Solving the Growth Model by Linearizing the Euler Equations
Dirk Krüger (Frankfurt), Macroeconomic Theory
Dirk Krüger (Frankfurt), Quantitative Macroeconomics: An Introduction

Per Krusell (Princeton), Lecture Notes for Macroeconomics I
Lars Ljungqvist (SSE) / Thomas Sargent (NYU), Recursive Macroeconomic Theory
.ps
Rody Manuelli (Wisconsin), Notes on Discrete Time Economic Models: The Growth Model
Rody Manuelli (Wisconsin), Topics in Macroeconomics: An Introduction to Stochastic Calculus
Maurice Obstfeld (Berkeley), Dynamic Optimization in Continuous-Time Economic Models I & II
Nicola Pavoni (University College), Notes on Dynamic Methods in Macroeconomics
Shouyong Shi (Toronto), Macro Theory I
John Stachurski (Melbourne), Stochastic Economic Dynamics
Nancy Stokey (Chicago), Brownian Models in Economics
Stijn Van Nieuwenburg (NYU) / Pierre-Olivier Weill (NYU), Exercises in Recursive Macroeconomic Theory

Randall Wright (Penn), Macroeconomics

Asset pricing, financial economics and financial mathematics:
Christian Ewald (St Andrews), Discrete-Time Finance
Christian Ewald (St Andrews), Mathematical Finance: Introduction to Continuous-Time Financial Market Models

Robert Kohn (NYU), Continuous-Time Finance
Antonio Mele (LSE), Lecture Notes in Financial Economics

Steven Shreve (Carnegie Mellon), Stochastic Calculus and Finance
Tyler Shumway (Michigan), Introduction to Finance

Tyler Shumway (Michigan), Introduction to Continuous-Time Asset Pricing
Paul Söderlind (St. Gallen), Financial Theory I & II

A.W. van der Vaart (Vrije U), Financial Stochastics
A.W. van der Vaart (Vrije U), Martingales, Diffusions, and Financial Mathematics

Other macro and computational methods:
Miles Kimball (Michigan), Q-Theory and Real Business Cycle Analytics
Miles Kimball (Michigan), Real Business Cycle Theory: A Semiparametric Approach
Dirk Krüger (Frankfurt), Dynamic Fiscal Policy
Dirk Krüger (Frankfurt), Consumption and Saving: Theory and Evidence
Eric Leeper (Indiana), Bundesbank Mini-Course on Monetary Economics
Stephanie Schmitt-Grohe (Duke) / Martin Uribe (Duke), International Macroeconomics
Shouyong Shi (Toronto), Topics in Monetary Theory
Paul Söderlind (St Gallen), Macroeconomic and Financial Forecasting
Paul Söderlind (St Gallen), Empirical Macroeconomics
Paul Söderlind (St Gallen), Monetary Policy

Harald Uhlig (Humboldt U Berlin), A Toolkit for Analyzing Nonlinear Stochastic Models Easily
Martin Uribe (Duke), Lectures in Open Economy Macroeconomics

Econometrics

Probability and mathematical statistics:
Richard Bass (Connecticut), The Basics of Financial Mathematics
Graham Brightwell (LSE), Probability for Finance and Economics
Robert Gray (Stanford), Probability, Random Processes, and Ergodic Properties
Charles Grinstead (Swarthmore) / Laurie Snell (Dartmouth), Introduction to Probability
Rachel Fewster (Auckland), Statistical Theory
Arne Hallam (Iowa State), Econometrics I
Guido Imbens (UCLA), Probability and Statistics
Oliver Knill (Harvard), Probability
Daniel McFadden (Berkeley), Statistical Tools
D.S.G. Pollock (Queen Mary College), Lectures in Mathematical Statistics
S.R.S. Varadhan (NYU), Probability Theory
S.R.S. Varadhan (NYU), Stochastic Processes

Ivan Wilde (King's College London), Measure, Integration & Probability
Robert Wolpert (Duke), Probability and Measure Theory

Econometrics (general):
Herman Bierens (Penn State), Econometrics Lecture Notes
Erik Biorn (Oslo), Econometrics - Advanced

Michael Creel (Barcelona), Graduate Economics Lecture Notes
Bruce Hansen (Wisconsin), Econometrics
Daniel McFadden (Berkeley), Econometrics
Ariel Pakes (Harvard), Advanced Applied Econometrics
Ariel Pakes (Harvard) / Oliver Linton (LSE), Nonlinear Methods for Econometrics
D.S.G. Pollock (Queen Mary College), A Course of Econometrics
D.S.G. Pollock (Queen Mary College), Introductory Econometrics
D.S.G. Pollock (Queen Mary College), Topics in Econometric Theory
Paul Söderlind (St. Gallen), Lecture Notes for Econometrics


Macroeconometrics (time series) / financial econometrics:
John Cochrane (Chicago), Time Series for Macroeconomics and Finance
D.S.G. Pollock (Queen Mary College), The Methods of Time Series Analysis
Paul Söderlind (St. Gallen), Lecture Notes in Financial Econometrics
A.W. van der Vaart (Vrije U), Time Series

Microeconometrics and other econometrics:
Alan Duncan (Nottingham), Cross-Sectional and Panel Data Econometrics
Stepan Jurajda (Charles U), Econometrics of Panel Data and Limited Dependent Variable Models
James LeSage (Toledo), Spatial Econometrics

Charles Manski (Northwestern) / Daniel McFadden (Berkeley), Structural Analysis of Discrete Data and Econometric Applications
Kenneth Train (Berkeley), Discrete Choice Methods with Simulation
Melvyn Weeks (Cambridge), Advanced Econometrics: Microeconometrics

Softwares

Matlab:
Ian Cavers (UBC), An Introductory Guide to Matlab
Paul Fackler (North Carolina State), Matlab Primer
Edward Neuman (Southern Illinois University), Matlab Tutorials
Christian Roessler (Melbourne), Matlab Basics
Kermit Sigmon (Florida), Matlab Primer
Kermit Sigmon (Florida), Matlab Tutorial
Matlab Summary and Tutorial at Florida

Gauss:
Marc Nerlove (Maryland), Notes on GAUSS
Felix Ritchie (Trig Consulting), Guide to Programming in GAUSS
Mark Watson (
Princeton), GAUSS Basics
GAUSS 5.0 User Guide at Aptech

Stata:
Robert Yaffee (NYU), Getting Started with STATA for MS Windows: A Brief Introduction
STATA Tutorial at Princeton

Latex:
Peter Flynn (Silmaril Consultants), A Beginner's Introduction to Typesetting with LaTex